Ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, the Road Safety Network (RSN) has called on policymakers to address four critical gaps in India’s road safety framework—child safety, scientific speed management, robust State Road Safety Action Plans, and targeted amendments to the Motor Vehicles Act (MV Act).
In 2022 alone, children accounted for nearly 10% of road fatalities, and from 2011 to 2022, road crashes led to the deaths of 1.98 lakh children. A key concern raised by RSN is the widespread use of informal school transport—vans and auto-rickshaws—that often operate outside any regulatory framework. RSN is urging the Government to amend Section 2(11) of the MV Act to formally include such transport under the law and ensure their registration and oversight. The coalition is also pushing for the implementation of Safe School Zones, especially since 60% of Indian children walk to school daily.
Ranjit Gadgil, Programme Director at Parisar and RSN partner, stated that recognising informal school transport under the law is the first step toward protecting children’s commute. Speeding is another major concern, having caused 72% of road crash deaths in 2022, which translates to over 1.19 lakh lives lost. RSN is advocating for a scientific approach to speed zoning based on local conditions such as school areas, markets, and residential roads. While Section 112 currently sets speed limits, RSN believes these limits often fail to reflect real-world traffic conditions. Citing West Bengal’s successful zone-wise speed guidelines, the coalition is recommending the model for national replication.
Professor Bhargab Maitra from IIT Kharagpur, an RSN partner, noted that tailoring speed limits to local realities can significantly improve road safety outcomes.
RSN is also calling for States to implement stronger and more inclusive Road Safety Action Plans, particularly for urban areas that are often left out of standardised highway-centric designs. Although the 2019 MV Act brought a degree of uniformity to highway safety standards, RSN emphasises that urban roads must also adhere to Indian Roads Congress safety norms to ensure pedestrian and cyclist safety and better public transport infrastructure.
The coalition has further urged amendments to Sections 112 and 183 of the MV Act. They propose that Section 112 be updated to allow road-specific speed limits, particularly lower limits around schools and hospitals, and that Section 183 be strengthened to explicitly cover two- and three-wheelers under enforcement mechanisms.
According to Ashim Sanyal, COO of Consumer VOICE, current penalties are inadequate and fail to deter risky behaviour, especially among vulnerable road users such as two-wheeler riders and pedestrians.
Data from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) and other official sources shows the urgency of these interventions. Delhi alone recorded 5,652 road crashes in 2023, of which 1,517 were fatal, resulting in 1,571 deaths. Motorcyclists and pedestrians made up 95% of the accident survivors, while heavy vehicles and LMVs were involved in 81% of known crashes. Between January and May 2025, Delhi reported 517 road deaths—a 13.4% drop from the same period in 2024. Still, 43% of all road deaths in Delhi in 2023 were pedestrians, and two-wheeler users accounted for 38% of fatalities.
Fatal crashes rose by 5% between 2023 and 2024, with major causes being speeding, pedestrian run-overs, and two-wheeler collisions. Despite these figures, Delhi continues to face challenges such as poor pedestrian infrastructure and weak enforcement of speed regulations, with no new safety reforms reported in 2025.
As India continues to urbanise and motorise at a rapid pace, RSN’s appeal comes at a crucial moment. The coalition’s proposed measures—ranging from legal amendments and better speed management to inclusive urban safety planning—aim to build a safer, more responsive road safety ecosystem for all, especially vulnerable road users like children, pedestrians, and two-wheeler riders.
Also Read:
HMSI’s Summer Camp Brings Road Safety To The Forefront For Young Commuters
!function (f, b, e, v, n, t, s) {
if (f.fbq) return; n = f.fbq = function () {
n.callMethod ?
n.callMethod.apply(n, arguments) : n.queue.push(arguments)
};
if (!f._fbq) f._fbq = n; n.push = n; n.loaded = !0; n.version = ‘2.0’;
n.queue = []; t = b.createElement(e); t.async = !0;
t.src = v; s = b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t, s)
}(window, document, ‘script’,
‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
fbq(‘init’, ‘761662628336139’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
————————————————
